"Ensign, but a flag": why in Russian some words "do not correspond" to reality?

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Svetlana Guryanova

Philologist, teacher, author blog about the Russian language.

All the words listed above correspond to reality - but only to the one that was several hundred (or even a thousand) years ago. The language has changed a lot since then, and many words have disappeared from it without a trace. But some still left a memory about themselves, passing on their roots to the words “descendants” that we still use today, without understanding their internal form and original meaning. These are the "ensign", "glasses" and "laundry".

Original meaningThe word "ensign" in the etymological dictionary of Max Vasmer. the words "ensign" - "standard bearer" or "flag bearer". It is formed from the already lost noun "prapor" - "banner", "gonfalon", which is already lost, but found in written monuments. And it, in turn, is akin to the words “soar” (to fly) and “feather”, because a banner is something that rises and, in a sense, really hovers above people.

And "glasses" are what they put on "eyes", and this is what they used to callThe word "glasses" in the etymological dictionary of G. Krylov A. eyes. Now this word has survived except in the stable expressions "lower my eyes down", "the light of my eyes", "To protect like the apple of an eye" (literally: "like the pupil of the eye"), in the blink of an eye ("in the blink of an eye"), "eye for an eye" and others.

It is curious, but from the same "eye" is also formed a "window" - "a hole for observation". And the word "eye" at first meantThe word "eye" in the etymological dictionary of Max Vasmer. "Glass ball". It is probably related to the German glas - "glass". In one of the chronicles there is even a story about how children found "glass eyes" on the river bank. But over time, this slang and rude word, which can be compared with the word "balls" in the expression "roll out the balls", became common, and the "eye" was forgotten.

"Laundry" - from the verb "prati"The word "prat" in the etymological dictionary of Max Vasmer. (wash). Even 100 years ago, peasant women washed their clothes right in the river. Yes, they did not just wash, but beat them with a special wooden roller - "pralnik" Hence the "washerwoman" - a woman washing clothes.

You can find such information about the origin of words in etymological dictionaries. The most famous and authoritative - dictionaries M. Vasmera, N. M. Shansky, P. I. Black. They are available on the web, so it's easy to use them.